Looks like those robots are going to be mighty busy.
Volvo (VLVOF) -) is getting all R2-D2 as the Swedish carmaker looks to acquire 1,300 robots from ABB to assemble its next generation of electric vehicles, according to Assembly Magazine.
Related: A top analyst says Tesla will have a $1 trillion market cap next year
The machines will be installed at the company's factories in Torslanda, Sweden, and Daqing, China.
“The automotive industry’s historic transformation, driven by increasing consumer demand for electric vehicles and a desire to operate more sustainably, is creating new opportunities as well as challenges for global manufacturers,” said Marc Segura, president of ABB Robotics.
And it's Volvo next generation of EVs that we want to talk about, specifically the company's upcoming vehicle, which will reportedly be a mid-sized luxury sedan and likely be known as the ES90.
Competing with BMW and Mercedes
The EV, known internally as the V551, will compete with such vehicles as the BMW i5 and Mercedes-Benz EQE and be built in China.
The story was initially reported by Swedish outlet TeknikensVärld. A photograph published to Volvo's employee intranet shows the V551 team kneeling next to a giant “CONFIDENTIAL TOP SECRET” sign below a banner with the text “Volvo Cars V551 First VP Car Celebration.”
The car is completely obscured from view, ahead of an expected unveiling in the coming months.
The ES90 is expected to be built on Volvo’s SPA2 platform, the same structure used by the EX90 and Polestar 4 CUVs. It is designed to accommodate electric drivetrains at 400 or 800 volts, according to WardAuto.
Specifications hint at the new range-topping Volvo model offering options for single-motor rear-wheel-drive and dual-motor all-wheel-drive configurations.
The battery capacity is 111 kWh (107 kWh usable), providing an estimated range of 373 miles (600 km) with the single motor, rear-wheel-drive setup.
It is said to be the first Volvo developed entirely by the company’s China-based R&D team.
Available in mid-2025
Volvo will reportedly start producing the ES90 in May 2024, though retail availability isn’t planned until mid-2025.
The ES90 name seems a logical choice for the new model and Car and Driver said that it had found pending U.S. trademarks on the moniker that Volvo applied for earlier this year.
However, the Swedish news report said that Lexus may have an issue with the use of the ES nameplate, so it's possible Volvo could go a different route.
Volvo is planning to go all-electric by 2030 and EVs made a mark in the company's recent November sales report.
The company said earlier this month that sales grew 8% in November from a year earlier to 63,682 cars.
Last month, fully electric and hybrid cars--known collectively as the Recharge brand--made up more than 55% of all cars sold in Europe, its biggest market.
Sales of fully electric and hybrid cars grew 10% and accounted for 26% of all cars sold in the U.S. during November. Sales of fully electric cars accounted for 16% of all Volvo cars sold globally.
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